Santa Ana firm pours self-serve beer on tap

Brett Jones, left, chief technical officer, and CEO Joseph McCarthy created iPourIt, a self-serve beer pouring system. The customer wears a tap pass and swipes it on a tap reader like at this set up at TapShack in Newport Beach. The cost of the beer is then added to his account. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER

You can get cash from an ATM, check yourself out at the grocery store and order a meal at a restaurant from an iPad, so is pouring your own beer at the bar just a natural next step in a need-it-now world?

Brett Jones and Joseph McCarthy are banking on it.

The pair founded iPourIt, a Santa Ana-based company that created a self-pour beer system being used in two Orange County sports-themed restaurants. The system allows patrons wearing a special wristband to serve themselves from one of the restaurant's high-tech taps – but only up to 32 ounces.

This month, the startup secured $800,000 in funding, including money from the founders themselves and an Anaheim Hills investment group, to market and expand the business.

The founders came up with the idea for iPourIt after enduring a lengthy wait for beer at a sports bar. They waited impatiently for a server to take their order, tell them what they ordered wasn't in stock and then finally bring their drinks. By the time they were drinking, more than 30 minutes had passed, and the tap was just a few feet away from them the whole time.

"You're sitting 20 feet from the handles," Jones said. "Why can't I just go and pour it myself?"

McCarthy, the startup's 41-year-old chief executive, met Jones when they worked together at a travel business for students. McCarthy worked in corporate development and Jones in IT. McCarthy left to become a partner at an investment company in Newport Beach, while Jones worked a few more IT jobs. In early 2010, the former coworkers got together for a beer – and ended up planning a business.

Jones decided to build a prototype and McCarthy told him they should talk when he finished. Jones said he had enough savings to quit his job to focus on the technology, and he built the basics in his Lake Forest garage.

"We knew it was something we wanted to do," Jones said. "You just make it work."

A year after the meeting, the partnership came together. McCarthy's investment group, Bellwether Financial Group, put in an undisclosed amount of money and McCarthy began working part-time to turn iPourIt from garage project to company.

In February 2012, the iPourIt team launched a testing program at the Basement Lounge, a nightclub in Long Beach. The test run lasted about two months. The iPourIt team fine-tuned the system, though the nightclub ultimately didn't buy it. The economics didn't work out, according to owner Mark Akhavain.

"It was awesome. The idea was fantastic," he said. "It was not something we could use because a lot of the clientele want mixed drinks ... We hardly have any beer drinkers."

Next, McCarthy and Jones reached a deal to install the system at two Orange County restaurants.

At TapHouse in Huntington Beach and TapShack in Newport Beach, where the system has been up and running since last year, a customer can pour an ounce each from a dozen different beers or a cold half glass of one brand, drink up, and pour another in the time it would take for a full glass to grow warm.

Brett Jones, left, chief technical officer, and CEO Joseph McCarthy created iPourIt, a self-serve beer pouring system. The customer wears a tap pass and swipes it on a tap reader like at this set up at TapShack in Newport Beach. The cost of the beer is then added to his account. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER
Twelve self-serve beer taps have been installed at TapShack in Newport Beach by iPourIt. The customer wears a tap pass and swipes it on a tap reader. The cost of the beer is then added to his account. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER
Joseph McCarthy, left, and Brett Jones install eight self-serve beer taps at TapShack in Newport Beach. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER
Twelve self-serve beer taps have been installed at TapShack in Newport Beach by iPourIt. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER
Joseph McCarthy of iPourIt installs a new eight-tap self-serve beer dispenser on the patio at TapShack in Newport Beach. TapShack already had four self-serve taps from iPourIt inside the restaurant. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER
Twelve self-serve beer taps have been installed at TapShack in Newport Beach by iPourIt. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE REGISTER

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